


Cuts and Bruises

by Jonah_Smith_907



Category: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Flash has feelings, Flashbacks, Hurt/Comfort, Not Much Anyway, Panic Attacks, Peter is a dumbass, but not in the first chapter, fluff ig, he's also scared, idk Peter's injured
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-06-05
Packaged: 2019-10-17 19:47:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17566856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jonah_Smith_907/pseuds/Jonah_Smith_907
Summary: Flash Thompson is the ultimate fanboy regarding Spiderman. He also knows that something weird is going on with Parker. However, when one day he finds Spiderman laying injured in an alley, he finds out more than he bargained for.





	1. Chapter 1

Parker had been weird, lately. Weirder than usually, anyway. Whenever he sat down, or moved in a wrong way, he pulled a face and shifted uncomfortably and once, Flash had even heard him wince.

The boy had forced every thought out of his head that went even remotely in the direction of mild concern, and instead observed his two most hated classmates with some distance. He didn't even pick on them any more. Not much, anyway.

For the first few weeks, Ned's obvious worry increased steadily, as he kept asking Parker what was going on, and if somebody had hurt him. Parker kept dodging the questions, making excuses all day long, until one day Ned stopped. From one day to the next, he stopped urging the other one to get help or some equally stupid bullshit and instead refrained to giving him pitying looks, but only _after_ he'd asked, whether Parker laid eggs. 

Flash tried not to think about that part too much.

And for some reason he managed to ignore the two nerd's oddities. Okay two weeks. It was two weeks before things went sort of downhill. 

It was the Monday after Homecoming. Most students were in a good mood, excitedly chatting about who they'd danced with or which popular person they'd talked to.

Ned seemed excited, too, whisper-yelling at Parker about some 'crazy cool shot', until suddenly he seemed to realize that something was off.

Off, as in Parker looked like a ghost.

Flash had noticed right away, considering he'd been watching him like a hawk for the past month, always ready to drop a snarky remark about the latest black eye or bruise or cut, that the other one kept sporting.

Now he looked pale, nearly sickishly so, while his eyes were wide open, dark and scared, like a deer caught in the headlights.

It didn't look good on him. Made him look like a child, and something about that made it hard to hate him. Something about it made it hard not to grow worried, made it hard to slip back into his role as the bully and even harder to put Parker into his place as the victim. 

Flash managed to avoid staring at him for the better part of the day, although he couldn't shake the distinct feeling of concern, nagging at the back of his mind.

Until he met Peter in the hallway after school and that feeling exploded into a full emotion. It wasn't really that Parker was doing a whole lot of weird stuff, but that he didn't really do anything at all. He was just standing there, in front of his locker, staring at nothing without blinking. It was as if he didn't even register Flash approaching him, or anything for that matter. Just stood there, staring.

“What are you doing here, Penis?” Flash asked, shoving the other one a little. He told himself that he didn't feel guilty about it.

Peter flinched, hard, spinning around and taking a step back until his back hit the locker, eyes flitting through the room. “What?” he croaked and started fidgeted with the sleeve of his shirt, absently, not really focussing. “What's going on??”

“... you zoned out.” The bully squinted. 

“Oh.” Parker didn't seem too concerned by that. 

“Are you okay??” He didn't like saying it, but Flash was worried. It had happened quite a lot in the past, that Parker didn't pay attention and was somewhere else with his thoughts, but not like this. He'd never completely lost his connection to the present reality. Also he still looked kind of … confused. 

“Um … yeah. Sure.” Peter took a deep but shaky breath, looking around once more with a slight frown, as if to make sure he was still in the same place. “I just … I was stuck in a – a memory? From … Homecoming.”

“Do you wanna go to the nurse or something? You don't look very good.” Oh god, since when was he so nice to this nerd?? It wasn't like him; he was the bully, the powerful one! He wasn't supposed to _care_! Caring would only end in pain. Always had.

“N-no.” Peter took another deep breath, this time a little steadier. “It was just – just a flashback or … something.”

“Of what??”

Peter locked eyes with the other boy, his own still empty and scared, as if he wasn't really there. “A building fell on me.” He sounded about as distraught as Flash felt at that very moment; his hands fell to his sides weakly. For a few more seconds they maintained eye-contact, Parker looking as if he was searching for answers in Flash's eyes, answers that neither of them had. Flash didn't even know the question. 

Flash was about to say something, but Peter already turned around, shuffling down the hall until he reached the door and disappeared outside, leaving Flash alone in the empty school.

There was something seriously wrong with this boy. Sure, he'd always been a little weird and nerdy, but the bully never would have thought that he'd be the type of guy who'd one day get buried underneath a whole ass house. 

Flash decided that now was the time to start a few investigations to answer a few questions. For example: why did Peter always leave school like he had some place to be, except for when a very fancy black car picked him up? Why did he sometimes look like he hadn't slept at all and, occasionally, like he'd run into a door and the door had hit back? And, most importantly: what was the story behind the building that fell on a sixteen year old boy? It would have been on the front page of the papers if somebody had been seriously injured, so why hadn't Flash heard of it? It only left one logical explanation: Peter had been the only one there – and nobody knew about it. 

 

Two days later Flash got his opportunity to follow Parker after school. He hadn't been fast enough that time after the flashback-incident and the next day the nerd had been picked up by a car again, but today Flash managed to get after him. He nearly had to run so he wouldn't lose the other boy.

In the end he _did_ lose him, but he could proudly say that it was only after he got stuck at a red light, while Parker ran across and vanished around a corner. He was really goddamn fast. Too fast to be as bad in PE as he pretended to be.

This procedure repeated itself for the next two weeks: Flash tracked Parker until a red light or a street with a hundred alleys in which the other one could vanish and the next day the nerd would show up with different bruises than the day before. 

Then, on a Wednesday, shit hit the fan. 

Flash was on his way to football-practice, after he'd once again lost Parker on their daily cat-and-mouse-play, when he quickly passed one of those dark alleys that you don't want to enter – and heard a broken groan.

The teen froze in his tracks. Of course it was a stupid idea to follow the noise. Anything could happen, for example: he could get into trouble. He didn't want to get into trouble. But then again, maybe it was somebody who needed help. 

He was a bully, not an asshole. He hoped. Besides, he only bullied one guy and he deserved it for being an utter idiot nerd jerk. 

Flash resisted the urge to turn and run – or to punch himself in the face for being this dumb – and slowly entered the shadows. He carefully approached the sounds of laboured breathing coming from behind a dumpster, ready to run. 

After a few steps, that felt like a hundred, he reached the source of the sound: a more or less red heap of a person, curled in on themselves, apparently moaning in pain. It took him several seconds until Flash realized that the heap was none other than _the_ Spiderman. 

Without his mask.

 

Peter's day had been kinda alright. He'd rescued a cat out of a tree and a dog who'd been stuck in a fence. He had helped an old lady over a busy street and then webbed up a guy who'd tried to rob a young man. He'd done his homework on the roof of a building and had made sure a little girl got home safely. He'd given her a note to her parents, politely telling them that it wasn't very safe for a nine-year-old to walk through New York alone. Even if it wasn't dark.

And then suddenly, from one moment to the next, things had gone downhill. 

It should have been an easy case, just a few bank robbers, robbing a bank. As it turned out, they had somehow managed to get weapons from Toomes, strong ones, strong enough to blast walls away, just like that first time before the building-desaster and then later with that goddamned plane. He still had nightmares of that day.

Anyway, long story short, he got blasted away, hit his head and passed out. When he woke up, he could hear sirens getting closer and when he tried to move, he felt something sharp in the left side of his stomach, along with something warm and sticky, soaking into his suit. He pressed both hands on the wound and forced himself onto his feet with a pained groan. He made himself stagger down a street until he found an empty alley where he collapsed the second he'd taken cover behind a dumpster. 

He was seriously considering calling Tony, but something held him back. He didn't want to bother the man, didn't want to be seen as weak. Tony would take his suit again and the last time that had happened, Peter had gotten buried under a building. Besides, if he'd managed to survive that god-awful situation, he could definitely get out of a stab wound just fine. Probably. Or not, the blood loss made it kind of hard to think clearly. He took off his mask in the hopes that the cool air would clear his head a little. It didn't work.

Peter tried to sit up and let out a broken groan when a stabbing pain shot through his body. Okay, so no sitting up. He huffed out a laugh that sounded dangerously close to panicked madness. He couldn't move without being forced back to the ground by the pain, just like that day under the building, couldn't breathe properly because of the dust, could feel the weight on his shoulders and legs and back and chest, not letting him inhale properly, leaving him gasping for air, eyes squeezed shut as everything was crushing him to death. 

Then there were hands on his arms.

 

Following the first shock that Spider-Man was laying on the floor, without his mask and obviously injured, with all the blood spread out around him, was a mix of dread and excitement. Dread, because what if the hero died?? What if he was bleeding hard enough to bleed out? And excitement, because holy shit it's Spider-Man!

The excitement quickly changed into surprise and then disbelief. He knew that guy there. He knew those brown curls, even though they were damp with sweat. He knew that jaw and those shoulders. Flash knew Peter Parker. And now he knew that the nerd was Spider-Man. 

A Spider-Man who was currently laying on his side on the floor, his back pressed against the wall behind him, legs pulled to his chest, one hand trying to get a grip on the floor, fingernails scraping over the pavement while gasping for air, his other hand stuck between his legs, his eyes squeezed shut.

“What in the goddamn-”, Flash whispered to himself. There he was, his hero, laying injured on the floor and apparently in the midst of a panic attack, yet Flash had no idea what he was supposed to be doing.

He shouldn't help Parker! Flash was the strong bully, he couldn't help his victim now?? But on the other hand, Parker was also Spider-Man, a hero. Besides, the teen had already started worrying about the nerd some time ago; so why stop now? 

He sighed an knelt down next to the heap of red, trying to ignore the knot in his stomach and also trying to avoid the blood. “Um,” he intelligently started. Peter didn't react. “Um are you okay?” Obviously not, but hey, conversation starter. “I mean you don't look okay.” There was still no reaction. Alright, bad.

Flash slowly reached out, until his hands closed around the other one's arms. Parker flinched, his eyes shot open and he sucked in a surprised breath, his body freezing, not even blinking. Then he sluggishly closed and opened his eyes, his mouth falling open slightly. 

Flash frowned. “Uh … you okay?”

“Wha- …” He paused. “I'm … where am I?” He slowly blinked again and looked around in the narrow alley, a frown deepening on his forehead. “What're you doin' here? I'm … I'm not … here.”

Flash inhaled shakily. This was bad. This was so much worse than he'd initially thought. He'd thought he'd just meet Spiderman and maybe help out with a few scratches, but not … this. There was so much blood and Parker looked like he was high, but that was probably just because of the blood-loss or something. The bully had absolutely no clue what to do. Clear was only, that he had to help somehow. 

Of course Parker was still a pathetic nerd, but he was also a hero. And if that hero died, then what was Flash Thompson supposed to believe in?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this was kinda flat in some places, but I haven't written properly in like two months. I'm just trying to get back in.
> 
> Also don't expect an update too soon, I have no idea when the next chapter will follow. Thanks for reading though, leave a comment to make my day.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, the last part, my apologies for the long wait!!
> 
> If you find anything that doesn't make sense or something, please let me know. I didn't read over it again...

Flash searched through Peter's contacts in the hopes of finding something useful. After a bunch of names that sounded familiar – Tony, Steve, Loki of all people and Clint – he also found really normal names like Matt, Claire or Bruce. A contact called 'Science Bro' was there too. Flash could only hope it was Ned, but who else could it be, Bruce Banner? Laughable. Another one was called 'Favourite asshole' but he highly doubted that that would be Peter's nickname for his best friend.

For several seconds he didn't know who to call. He hadn't expected a nerd like Peter to have this many contacts in his phone. Which led him to thinking that it was pretty stupid to use his normal phone as Spiderman. Don't heroes usually have burner phones? Or were those vigilantes? Either way, it was a risk. 

Flash called Ned. The only person he knew on that list that wasn't Mj. He really didn't want to have her judging him right now. Or ever.

 

Ned picked up after the fourth ring with a cheery “What's up? Do you wanna come over so we can complete that new Star Wars Ship I got?” and the sound of a bag of chips being opened. 

“Uh … this is Flash,” Flash informed the other teen with a slight frown. 

For a few seconds it was silent on the other end. Finally Ned asked: “Why do you have Peter's phone?” Then, a little pressed: “Did you steal it from him?”

“No, why would I steal Penis Parker's phone??” He shook his head in irritaion before he added with some urgency and a side look at an unmoving Peter: “I found him bleeding in an alley.”

“... you what?”

“Yeah with suit and all.” He cleared his throat. “I thought maybe you know what I'm supposed to do now. He was awake a minute ago but now I think he passed out.”

“Oh shit!!” Now there was the sound of walking around. “Okay um don't panic!” 

“I'm not the one panicking!” Flash snapped and leaned over to feel if the nerd still had a pulse. He sighed in relief when he found one, although it wasn't as strong as he'd have liked it.

“I wasn't talking to you!” came back the anser. “Alright, you have his phone! Call the contact that says Tony and tell him what happened and uh … uh … you gotta like … try and stop the bleeding.”

“Listen, I don't wanna call the contact that says Tony, because I don't wanna call some random dude that the Nerd has saved as a contact just so he can keep up his lie of knowing Tony Stark!”

“Just call the damn number!!” Ned hissed and added: “Do you really think I'd waste time like this _now_??”

“Alright fine!” He hung up, huffed out an annoyed sigh and searched for 'Tony' in Peter's contacts. He quickly took off his jacket – at least it was an ugly one, he thought – and pressed it firmly on where the most blood was. He didn't have the stomach to actually look for the wound. He hesitated shortly before pressing 'call'. 

It rang for ages – at least a minute – before finally the call was answered with a loud crack, followed by a soft curse until: “Hey kid, sorry to keep you waiting but I didn't find my phone.” There was a short pause. “It was in my pocket.”

Flash swallowed hard before he croaked: “Uh.” He cleared his throat. “Is this … Tony?”

“Well who else would it be??” came the snarky reply. “Who is this? Where is Peter?!”

“He's um … injured. In an alley. I found him. He's bleeding? In his side? And like he doesn't respond …”

“I'm on my way? Put pressure on the wound and make sure nobody sees his face or else he's gonna flip his shit if he finds out!”

“Um … and how are you going to find us? Sir?”

“Do you really think I'd give my kid a suit without a tracker in it??” 

The line went dead and Flash was left with an unconscious Peter and the darkness, one hand stained with blood, the other one shaking with fear. He really didn't want Spiderman to die right in front of him. That would literally be a nightmare come true. 

For a surprisingly short while, he just kind of sat there, keeping pressure on Peter's side and telling himself that everything was going to be alright, until finally he heard the sound of the Iron Man suit coming closer. A few streets away, tires screeched around a corner. 

Then there was chaos and Flash's brain switched off. 

Iron Man landed next to the two boys and Tony Stark kneeled next to Flash, gently taking the teens hands off of Peter and giving him his jacket to hold. He made the hole in the now stained Spiderman suit bigger so he could have a look at the wound. It went deep into the flesh, but at least it wasn't bleeding that much any more.

Stark let out a soft curse and made Flash press the jacket back on Peter, so he could check his breathing and pulse. He talked to Flash while he was working: “Alright, boy, Happy is gonna be here any second with something like an ambulance and Bruce is with him so we got at least _some_ medical knowledge here. Happy is gonna carry Pete to that car and I want you to go with him! Can you do that?” He looked at Flash with pressing urgency, but he got nothing but a blank stare as an answer. “Dammit, boy I thought you were a tough guy! Tough enough for bullying, anyway.” He sighed deeply and softly ran his fingers through Peter's hair before gently putting a hand on Flash's shoulder. “Thompson? I need you to come back to the present, buddy. Peter's gonna be fine. And you'll get to see Stark Tower from the inside.” Now he at least received a slightly horrified look, but before Tony could get too worried, a van stopped in front of the alley and out jumped two men, running closer to them.

“Tony? What exactly happened?” Bruce kneeled down next to the mechanic and immediately started assessing the kid. 

“I don't know, I just know that he got stabbed!” Tony ran a hand through his own hair now. Now that he had nothing to do anymore but hold Peter's hand, the panic began to set back in, making the knot in his stomach grow, making breathing so much harder. He swallowed hard and then said: “Can you move him?”

“Yeah, he's more or less stable at the moment, the bleeding isn't as strong any more.” He pet Flash's back. “Well done with the pressure on the wound.” He didn't stop long enough to realize that Flash wasn't responsive any more. “Happy, carry Peter to the van while I keep pressure on the wound!”

“What about the other kid?” Happy asked and had already picked up the wounded teen.

“I'm taking him to the car,” Tony said and quickly pulled Flash to his feet and more or less pulled him towards the vehicle. “I think he's in shock or something.” 

“Alright, we'll see what's wrong with him once we're in the med-bay.”

And off they were, leaving behind nothing but a small puddle of blood.

 

When Flash finally came back to himself, he found himself laying on a bed in a small, very light room. He turned his head in confusion and discovered Peter in a bed next to him, wearing a hospital gown and eating ice cream, while nodding along to the lecture Tony Stark was giving him. 

“I know, it won't happen again,” the teen eventually interrupted the genius, his voice muffled by his full mouth. “But there was this guy who was trying to hurt this woman so I stepped in, but then she ran and tripped and fell and distracted me so the guy stabbed me and made a run for it but you I couldn't just let him do that, so I ran after him and managed to web him to the nearest street light and anyway then I just kinda walked into that alley to take a break.”

“Still, you should have called me straight away!! You don't jut get stabbed and walk it off, kid!” 

“It worked out fine, though.”

“Yeah, because Flashy-boy here saved your butt!” Tony pointed at said 'Flashy-boy', looked at him and froze when he suddenly realized that he was awake. “Well hello there,” he then greeted. “You back with us again?”

“Mr. Stark said you were in shock so they gave you a light sedative. Thanks for like … not leaving me to die.”

For a second Flash didn't get out a single word, until he finally stuttered: “You're Spiderman.”

Peter smiled shyly. “Yeah, but you can't tell anyone. Please.”

“Or else I'll make your life living hell,” Tony added with a squint of his eyes. “So watch your mouth.”

Flash nodded. He wasn't even able to form anything close to an insulting _thought_ , which was worrying enough, but he also realised that now he couldn't keep bullying Peter. Not only because of Stark's threat, but also because Peter was literally a hero, who risked his life every day, while still somehow staying top of his class and keeping up a social life. 

How could anybody not admire this guy? Especially because he was freaking _Spiderman_!

 

Happy, Stark's security dude, drove them both home that day. Peter thanked Flash again, before slowly making his way up to his flat – apparently he had some kind of enhance healing factor, which: freaky – and then Flash was back home, listening to his parents fight as if nothing had happened. 

That feeling continued the next day, when Peter ignored him all day, except for a few glances here and there and Ned just kind of stared sometimes. In return, he didn't do more, either. 

At least their class didn't seem to pick up on their new behaviour. And so what, if Flash tried to get closer to those two nerds? So what, if he was much nicer now, knowing that Peter wasn't trying to humiliate anybody when he answered all questions in chemistry or physics or maths or anywhere. He just was so damn smart. And what choice did he have, but to pay attention in class, if had all those other things to do?

At times, the former bully caught himself thinking thoughts that were definitely not normal for him. For example last Wednesday he thought about how good that new haircut looked on Peter and then the next day he thought that his eyes were a really nice shade of brown. 

He then spent ten minutes in the bathroom, slapping cold water in his face to calm down. If his father ever found out about any of this, he'd be dead and there'd be no Tony Stark to save him. 

Of course Peter knew nothing of this. But little did he know that his life take another very unexpected turn very soon.

Until then, he just kept being smart and nerdy and so damn pretty!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading, leave a comment :)
> 
> For the implied romance-thingy in the end: I will probably continue it, but not now and not in this fic but as a series with this as the base. Suggestions are welcome


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